Rupis is wintering in Mali – very close to Tizón!

Rupis - the subadult Egyptian vulture
which was captured and tagged in the framework of theproject LIFE Rupisin July, is now in western Mali – exactly in the same area where Tizón spent its first two years.

Rupis was captured close to Miranda do
Douro in the upper Douro canyon, in late July, and then spent the best part of August and September commuting between the Douro canyon and a foraging area west of Salamanca.Then, on 20th September, Rupis started its migration
south. He crossed the straits of Gibraltar on the
22nd, and entered the Sahara desert southeast of Ouarzazate on the 24th. Then, for a few days, there was no signal – absolutely normal as there is no GSM coverage in the
vast desert. Finally, on the 29th September, Rupis gave signs of LIFE again – his tag was picked up by a GSM mast in Mauritania, and data was transmitted, showing that Rupis crossed
into Algeria, and then into Mauritania. He then made it to Mali.You can follow Rupis migration here

Tizón was tagged in September 2014 in
Spain by the Junta de Extremadura (the regional government), AMUS (a local nature conservation NGO) and the VCF, after being found disoriented and suffering malnutrition in Extremadura. He spent
the first 2 years of his LIFE in southern Mauritania -westernmost Mali (see the map), but then this year came to Europe – he is now back in southern
Mauritania and very close to where RUPIS is – a major wintering area for Iberian Egyptian vultures.